The prestigious top 10 is chosen yearly by the editors of the New York Times’ Book Review, and is made up of 5 fiction and 5 non fiction books. Of Deraniyagala’s heartbreaking book, the NY Times says:

“On the day after Christmas in 2004, Deraniyagala called her husband to the window of their hotel room in Sri Lanka. “I want to show you something odd,” she said. The ocean looked foamy and closer than usual. Within moments, it was upon them. Deraniyagala lost her husband, her parents and two young sons to the Indian Ocean tsunami. Her survival was miraculous, and so too is this memoir — unsentimental, raggedly intimate, full of fury.”

Other books on the list include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah”, which examines race relations in the US through the lens of a Nigerian immigrant, and Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch”, which has been hailed as return to form for the novelist after her slightly underwhelming second novel, “The Little Friend”.